Ski preview: All in the family at Gateway Regional

It’s not unusual for a skiing coach to coach his or her children at Gateway Regional. During his nine years as girls coach, Dana Huff guided his daughters Maura and Kirsten to multiple individual championships.

The relationship Gateway sophomore Austin Herman shares with his mother Cindy, who is the boys coach, illustrates just how special and rewarding the experience can be.

The very thought of being coached by one’s mother might be a turnoff for some, but it’s something Austin has learned to embrace to the point of becoming second nature.

“Honestly, I don’t think it’s a lot different than any other coach,” he said. “She treats me the same as everyone else, and I have to respect that she’s the coach and also my mom at the same time. It doesn’t really bother me at all, and nobody else on the team finds it weird.”

His mother agreed that the relationship between the two has developed like that of any other player-coach dynamic.

“When I’m playing the role of coach, he’s very respectful, and I see him treating me as he would any adult that he is learning from,” she said.

Cindy Herman is in her second year as coach of the Gators, who field only five racers, but her involvement in Austin’s skiing career has deeper roots.

Austin, who is one of the most accomplished downhill racers of his age in western Mass., has skied for most of his life, and his mother has been there every step of the way. She first introduced him to the slopes at an age when most kids are still learning to tie their shoes and dress themselves.

“Austin took his first lesson and learned to ski at Berkshire East on high school individuals day when he was 5 years old,” Cindy Herman, a Gateway graduate herself, said. “I had gone to watch the team that day, and I got him a private lesson just because I didn’t want him to be bored. He took to it right away and was on the bunny hill, going up the chair and skiing down on his own within an hour.

“He watched the kids race that day, and he said, ‘Mom, I wanna race.’”

Austin’s mother made accommodations for her son to take skiing lessons at Blandford Ski Area. There, he developed the skills that allowed him to compete on the Gateway ski team as a seventh-grader.

Now, as his high school coach, Cindy is able to help mold her son into a competitive racer talented enough to lead all PVIAC South boys in scoring in 2012. This year, Austin is off to an excellent start, having claimed a pair of first and second-place South Division finishes for a total of 38 points in Gateway’s first four races of the season.

Austin Herman said his mission going forward is to finish as the top boys skier overall, regardless of divisional placement.

“It would be cool for me (to be able) to say I got first overall in a race,” he said. “That’s a goal I’d like to achieve this year.”

Reaching that goal was made difficult early on this year, as Austin struggled to adjust to a growth spurt that added five inches to his frame.

From “seventh grade up until last year, I was always just a little short kid, and this year I kind of grew,” he said. “It just (felt) a lot different when I’m skiing and more awkward at first.”

While most mothers experience this transformation through a parental lens, Cindy witnessed it as a competitive coach, as well.

“From a mom side, it’s exciting to see your son grow into a young man,” she said. “From a coach’s standpoint, it’s exciting because you’re looking toward the future of how much better can they get? How much more can you coach them, and is there more that they can give?”

As Austin has grown into a better and more confident skier, he’s used his role as team leader to become an extension of his mother out on the course for some of his younger and more inexperienced teammates.

“As a stronger skier, he’s kind of a mentor to them,” Cindy said. “I think that’s important, as a coach, to find that kid that can be that. He is my son, but he’s the one on the team that can kind of pull everyone through and get them together.”

OUTLOOK: The Hurricanes sent their three captains — Greg Lerner, Eli Ayers and Jon Simonds — to states last year, and they’ll be looking for more of the same this season, especially from Lerner, who was limited by injuries as a junior. Keep an eye on Wear in the future.

OUTLOOK: The Gators are limited in numbers, but are led by standout Austin Herman, who is coming off back-to-back state finals appearances and finished eighth overall while leading all PVIAC South in the standings last year.